Category Archives: Space exploration

The first international contest to let students shape the future of interstellar travel!

Following on from the April Lecture from Rob Swinney, here is the link to the campaign to raise £5000 to support the Project Dragonfly initiative – a competition to design a laser beam sail interstellar probe. They are off to a good start, raising over £1000 already and need support from the wider Astro community to reach their goals.

This month Jerry Workman will be talking about “Comets in our Solar System”.

The public meeting takes place at the Henry Dixon Hall, Rivenhall End on Wednesday 21st May. Doors open at 7.30pm for an 8pm start. £2 for members, £3 for non-members. For further information, see the Events page.

The public meeting takes place at the Henry Dixon Hall, Rivenhall End on Wednesday 21st May. Doors open at 7.30pm for an 8pm start. £2 for members, £3 for non-members. For further information, see the Events page.

The public meeting takes place at the Henry Dixon Hall, Rivenhall End on Wednesday 21st May. Doors open at 7.30pm for an 8pm start. £2 for members, £3 for non-members. For further information, see the Events page.

This month Gary Auker talks to us about the GAIA mission. Gaia’s primary objective is to survey one thousand million (one billion) stars in our Galaxy and local galactic neighbourhood in order to build the most precise 3D map of the Milky Way and answer questions about its origin and evolution.

The public meeting takes place at the Henry Dixon Hall, Rivenhall End on Wednesday 16th April. Doors open at 7.30pm for an 8pm start. £2 for members, £3 for non-members. For further information, see the Events page.

Dave Eagle has written articles for many of the British astronomy publications and supplied images to illustrate astronomy articles for photographic magazines. Dave has also appears regularly on local radio discussing many aspects of astronomy. In 2013 Dave’s first astronomy book was published by Springer. This month Dave will be talking about the American Manned Space Program.

The public meeting takes place at the Henry Dixon Hall, Rivenhall End on Wednesday 19th March. Doors open at 7.30pm for an 8pm start. £2 for members, £3 for non-members. For further information, see the Events page.

This month sees our very own Outreach Director and Chief Spacecraft Model Builder for the Institute of Interstellar Studies, Terry Regan, talk to us about his amazing scratch built model spacecraft.

The public meeting takes place at the Henry Dixon Hall, Rivenhall End on Wednesday 19th February. Doors open at 7.30pm for an 8pm start. £2 for members, £3 for non-members. For further information, see the Events page.

The International Space Station (ISS) will be making night-time passes over southern England during December, and so you can see the ISS from Essex as it orbits the Earth above you.

The ISS is a noticeably bright moving object and is quite easy to spot – you just need to know when and where to look up! If you have a camera which can take a long exposure, you can also try taking a photograph.

The ISS appears in the sky as a bright point object moving across the sky, usually taking 3 or 4 minutes to pass over. The space station isn’t emitting light – you are seeing the station’s surfaces reflect sunlight from orbit as it passes over your location.

Heavens Above is another website which allows you input your location details and find out about the ISS and other satellites passing over your skies. There are also various Android and Iphone apps that will alert you to ISS passes – ISS Detector is recommended.

Our first lecture of 2014 will be given by Gary Auker of e2v, who will be talking about “US Spaceflight: The Next Step”.

With the Space Shuttle retired and a new generation of spacecraft being developed, what will the future hold for NASA’s programme of space exporation?

The public meeting takes place at the Henry Dixon Hall, Rivenhall End on Wednesday 15th January. Doors open at 7.30pm for an 8pm start. £2 for members, £3 for non-members. For further information, see the Events page.

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In 2016 an amateur astronomer captured the first flashes of a supernova on camera. A team of researchers has used his and follow-up observations to reveal unprecedented details about these titanic explosions. The post Amateur Astronomer Captures Supernova’s First Light appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

The recent budget proposal for NASA dealt a blow to the astronomical community, putting several key missions — including WFIRST, a successor to Hubble — under the financial axe. The post NASA Budget Proposal Would Cancel WFIRST appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

Scientists have finally confirmed a decades-old theory on what causes the faint flickering seen in the Northern Lights toward dawn. The post Chorus Waves Drive the Beat for Pulsating Northern Lights appeared first on Sky & Telescope.